Phytophagous insect assemblages and the regional species pool: patterns and asymmetries

We describe three models predicting relationships between: (a) the taxonomic composition of the regional species pool of phytophagous insects and the composition of the phytophagous insect fauna on a host taxon; and (b) the faunal composition of two host taxa. The predictions of these models were compared with empirical data representing the regional pool of phytophages in Central Europe and the faunas of two plant taxa: the cabbage plants (Brassicaceae) and the thistles (Asteraceae: Cardueae). Three important findings emerge at a general level. (1) Different taxonomic levels of insects (orders, families, genera) of the regional pool and on the investigated host taxa are well correlated in terms of species richness, but there is no consistent trend in the variance explained by this correlation across taxonomic levels. (2) The model considering evolutionary interactions and speciation processes is consistent with patterns found in the empirical data. (3) Asymmetries in sampled species numbers of insect families on both host taxa may be accounted for by reference to the biology of these insects. We conclude that the faunas of single host taxa can provide the basis for extrapolating to the regional pool, at least at high taxonomic levels.     

Diversity and abundance patterns of phytophagous insect communities on alien and native host plants in the Brassicaceae

The herbivore load (abundance and species richness of herbivores) on alien plants is supposed to be one of the keys to understand the invasiveness of species. We investigate the phytophagous insect communities on cabbage plants (Brassicaceae) in Europe. We compare the communities of endophagous and ectophagous insects as well as of Coleoptera and Lepidoptera on native and alien cabbage plant species. Contrary to many other reports, we found no differences in the herbivore load between native and alien hosts. The majority of insect species attacked alien as well as native hosts. Across insect species, there was no difference in the patterns of host range on native and on alien hosts. Likewise the similarity of insect communities across pairs of host species was not different between natives and aliens. We conclude that the general similarity in the community patterns between native and alien cabbage plant species are due to the chemical characteristics of this plant family. All cabbage plants share glucosinolates. This may facilitate host switches from natives to aliens. Hence the presence of native congeners may influence invasiveness of alien plants.     

Flies on thistles: support for synchronous speciation?

Synchronous speciation of hosts and herbivorous insects predicts a congruent topology of host and insect phylogenies and similar evolutionary ages of host and insect taxa. To test these predictions for the specialized herbivorous fly genus Urophora (Diptera: Tephritidae), we used three different approaches. (i) We generated a phylogenetic tree of 11 European Urophora species from allozyme data and constructed a phylogeny of their hosts from published sources. Superimposing the Urophora tree on the host-plant tree we found no evidence for general congruence. (ii) We correlated genetic distances (Nei distances) of the host plants vs. the genetic distances of associated Urophora species. Overall, the relationship was not positive. Nevertheless, for some pairs of Urophora species and host plants genetic distances were in the same order of magnitude. (iii) We collected allozyme data for pairs of thistle taxa and pairs of herbivores on thistles together with independent time estimates. With these data we calibrated a molecular clock. There was a non-linear relationship between phylogenetic age and genetic distance, rendering the dating of deep events in thistle–insect evolution difficult. Nevertheless the derived molecular clock showed that the split of insect taxa lagged behind the split of hosts.  © 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2005, 84 , 775–783.     

Endophage-ectophage ratios and plant defense

Summary Endophagous folivores, which are concealed inside leaf tissue for much of their life cycle, or which live externally but feed internally, should be more successful on heavily defended plants than ectophagous species. This is because endophages are more facile at feeding selectively and can manipulate tissue development to avoid physical and chemical defenses and to enhance nutrition. As a result, endophage-ectophage ratios should increase on more heavily defended hosts. This pattern will likely be strengthened by negative asymmetrical interactions with ectophages and pathogens, which may displace endophages from lightly defended hosts. The hypothesis predicts that endophages should be particularly abundant in resource-poor habitats which seem to support a preponderance of heavily defended hosts. Although data do not yet exist for a rigorous test, several observed cases where endophage distributions seem biased toward heavily defended hosts are at least consistent with the hypothesis. Plant defense levels may have little influence on the total number of herbivores associated with a host, but I suggest that guild structure can be profoundly altered.     

Faunal make-up, host range and infestation rate of weevils and tephritid flies associated with flower heads of the thistle Cirsium (Cardueae: Astaraceae) in Japan

From 1988 to 1998, we collected flower heads of 39 thistle taxa (35 taxa of Cirsium, one species each of Breea, Synurus, Saussurea and Arctium; Cardueae; Astaraceae) in Japan, mainly from Hokuriku and other parts of central Honshu, and kept them in the laboratory to breed weevils and tephritid flies, the core fauna. We report the faunal make‐up, host plants, geographic distribution and the attack levels of the insects. Results indicated that (i) three Larinus species (Curculionidae) and three species of tephritid flies (Tephritis, Urophora and Xyphosia) comprised the core fauna; (ii) two insect species belonging to the same taxonomic group (either Curculionidae (Larinus) or Tephritidae) tended to use different host plant species; (iii) two sympatric Larinus species (L. latissimus and L. meleagris) segregated the host plants seasonally in central Honshu (Cirsium blooming in spring and autumn, respectively); and (iv) two tephritid fly species, Xyphosia punctigera and Urophora sachalinensis, segregated geographically (the former on the Japan Sea side and the latter on the Pacific Ocean side). In comparison with their European counterparts, the weevils and tephritids of the Japanese Cirsium are characterized by a lower species richness and a lower degree of specialization in usage of the thistle flower heads, with gall‐formers being distinctly under‐represented, and callus tissue‐feeders being absent. This reflects the fact that Japanese thistles are so closely related that hybridization frequently occurs, and also that the thistles have had a short history of interaction with the insects since the thistles’ arrival in Japan.     

Neighbourhood of host plants influences oviposition decisions of a stem-boring weevil

The spatial arrangement of suitable host plants in the field may significantly constrain insects to find optimal hosts. Plant neighbours around a focal host plant can either lead to lower (associational resistance) or higher (associational susceptibility) herbivore loads. We tested whether the spatial arrangement of hosts of different suitability for the larval development of the shoot-base boring weevil Apion onopordi affects oviposition decisions in the field. Host plants in our study were healthy creeping thistles (Cirsium arvense; suboptimal hosts) and thistles infected by a rust pathogen (Puccinia punctiformis; optimal hosts). For analysis, we used nearest neighbour methods that disentangle the spatial distribution of organisms that are dependent on the position of other species (e.g. phytophagous insects and their host plants). Although theory predicts that the small-scale spatial infestation pattern can have major consequences for the population dynamics in insect–plant systems, field studies quantifying spatial pattern of phytophagous insects are rare.

The spatial arrangement of host plants clearly influenced oviposition pattern in A. onopordi. In contrast to previous studies, we demonstrated that not the rust infection itself determined if a plant was infested by weevils, but rather the density of rusted shoots within a certain neighbourhood. We found strong indications for associational susceptibility of healthy thistle shoots to weevil oviposition when growing in the neighbourhood of rusted thistles. Weevil-infested plants were spatially aggregated, indicating that A. onopordi is limited in its dispersal ability within patches. Other stem-boring insects on creeping thistle were affected in their oviposition decisions by other factors than A. onopordi. Thus, it may be difficult to find general rules for oviposition choice in phytophagous insects.

Our study showed that the spatial arrangement of host plants in the field critically determines oviposition choice and should thus be included as constraint in theories of optimal host selection.     

Decay of similarity of gamasid mite assemblages parasitic on Palaearctic small mammals: geographic distance, host-species composition or environment

Aim The similarity between parasite assemblages should decrease with increasing geographic distance between them, increasing dissimilarity in environmental conditions, and/or increasing dissimilarity of the local host fauna, depending on the dispersal abilities of the parasites and the intimacy of their associations with the host. We tested for a decay in the similarity of gamasid mite assemblages parasitic on small mammals with increasing geographic, ‘environmental’ and ‘host faunal’ (= ‘host’) distances. Location We used data on assemblages of haematophagous gamasid mites (superfamily Dermanyssoidea) parasitic on small mammals (Insectivora, Lagomorpha and Rodentia) from 26 different regions of the northern Palaearctic. Methods Similarity in mite assemblages was investigated at the compound community level across all regions, and at the component community level, across populations of the same host species for each of 11 common host species. Similarity between pairs of mite communities was estimated using both the Jaccard and the Sorensen indices. Environmental distance was estimated as the dissimilarity between locations in a composite measure of climatic variables, and host faunal distance was simply taken as the reciprocal of indices of similarity between the composition of host faunas in different locations. Generalized Linear Models (GLM) and Akaike's Information Criterion were used to select the best model of decay in similarity as a function of geographic, ‘environmental’ and ‘host faunal’ distances. Results Overall, despite slight differences among host species, the similarity in mite assemblages decreased with both increasing ‘environmental’ distance and increasing ‘host faunal’ distance, but was generally unaffected by geographic distance between regions. The similarity of component communities of gamasid mites among host populations was determined mainly by similarity in the physical environment, whereas that of compound communities varied mainly with host‐species composition. Main conclusions Our results indicate that the general decay in community similarity with increasing geographic distances does not apply to assemblages of gamasid mites; it is possible that they can overcome great distances by means of passive dispersal (either by phoresy or wind‐borne), or more likely they occur wherever their hosts are found as a result of tight cospeciation in the past. Mite assemblages on small mammalian hosts seem to be affected mainly by local environmental conditions, and, to a much lesser extent, by the species composition of local host communities.     

Spatial variation in species diversity and composition of flea assemblages in small mammalian hosts: geographical distance or faunal similarity?

Aim Spatial variation in the diversity of fleas parasitic on small mammals was examined to answer three questions. (1) Is the diversity of flea assemblages repeatable among populations of the same host species? (2) Does similarity in the composition of flea assemblages among populations of the same host species decay with geographical distance, with decreasing similarity in the composition of local host faunas, or with both? (3) Does the diversity of flea assemblages correlate with climatic variables? Location The study used previously published data on 69 species of small mammals and their fleas from 24 different regions of the Holarctic. Methods The diversity of flea assemblages was measured as both species richness and the average taxonomic distinctness of their component species. Similarity between flea assemblages was measured using both the Jaccard and Morisita–Horn indices, whereas similarity in the composition of host faunas between regions (host ‘faunal’ distance) was quantified using the Jaccard index. Where appropriate, a correction was made for the potentially confounding influence of phylogeny using the independent contrasts method. Results Flea species richness varied less within than among host species, and is thus a repeatable host species character; the same was not true of the taxonomic distinctness of flea assemblages. In almost all host species found in at least five regions, similarity in flea assemblages decreased with increases in either or both geographical and faunal distance. In most host species, the diversity of flea assemblages correlated with one or more climatic variable, in particular mean winter temperature. Main conclusions Spatial variation in flea diversity among populations of the same mammal species is constrained by the fact that it appears to be a species character, but is also driven by local climatic conditions. The results highlight how ecological processes interact with co‐evolutionary history to determine local parasite biodiversity.     

The assessment of arboreal insect fauna: comparisons of knockdown sampling and faunal lists

Abstract. 1. A comparison is made between the fauna of six British tree species sampled by pyrethrum knockdown and the faunal lists in the literature for the same tree species.
2. Conspecific trees vary both in abundance of arthropods and their proportional distribution across taxa, but there are important overriding differences between tree species.
3. The percentage similarity in faunal composition between tree species reflects the ecological specificity of the arthropod groups used for the comparison.
4. The similarity in species composition between tree species is least for phytophages, the guild most closely associated with particular tree species, The two species of Salix are most similar in their fauna for most guilds.
5. About 40% of the entirely phytophagous species in the faunal lists for native trees were found in the knockdown samples.
6. The proportion of individuals of predominantly phytophagous taxa collected that belong to the relevant faunal lists ranges from 0.39 to 0.99.
7. Those species found in the knockdown samples which are not included in faunal lists none the less contribute to the trophic web of the tree.
8. The relative species richness of arboreal faunas assessed from knockdown samples parallels that derived from faunal lists.
9. The two approaches to the categorization of arboreal faunas, knockdown sampling and faunal lists, provide comparable data.     

Why close relatives make bad neighbours: phylogenetic conservatism in niche preferences and dispersal disproves Darwin's naturalization hypothesis in the thistle tribe

The number of exotic plant species that have been introduced into the United States far exceeds that of other groups of organisms, and many of these have become invasive. As in many regions of the globe, invasive members of the thistle tribe, Cardueae, are highly problematic in the California Floristic Province, an established biodiversity hotspot. While Darwin's naturalization hypothesis posits that plant invaders closely related to native species would be at a disadvantage, evidence has been found that introduced thistles more closely related to native species are more likely to become invasive. To elucidate the mechanisms behind this pattern, we modelled the ecological niches of thistle species present in the province and compared niche similarity between taxa and their evolutionary relatedness, using fossil‐calibrated molecular phylogenies of the tribe. The predicted niches of invasive species were found to have higher degrees of overlap with native species than noninvasive introduced species do, and pairwise niche distance was significantly correlated with phylogenetic distance, suggesting phylogenetic niche conservatism. Invasive thistles also displayed superior dispersal capabilities compared to noninvasive introduced species, and these capabilities exhibited a phylogenetic signal. By analysing the modelled ecological niches and dispersal capabilities of over a hundred thistle species, we demonstrate that exapted preferences to the invaded environment may explain why close exotic relatives may make bad neighbours in the thistle tribe.     

Arthropod faunal similarity of Bornean rain forest trees

ABSTRACT. 1. Arthropod samples, collected by insecticide fogging ten Bornean lowland rain forest trees, were sorted to species and used to study some of the determinants of faunal similarity of these trees.
2. Similarity indices were calculated between pairs of trees for guilds of beetles, beetle families and for different orders and other families of insects.
3. Multiple regression analyses of five independent variables of the trees (taxonomic similarity, distance apart, vertical canopy overlap, similarity in tree height, epiphytic load) were carried out against these similarity indices.
4. In eight of the eighteen insect groups analysed, taxonomic similarity of the trees is the most important variable affecting their species composition, accounting for a maximum of 29.4% of the variation.
5. For the Homoptera, Gryllidae, Anthicidae, Chrysomeloidea and scavengers, distance between the trees and the similarity of the trees'epiphyte load have a greater effect on their faunal similarities than taxonomic similarity of the trees.
6. The maximum variation accounted for by variables with significant T ratios was 38.6% in the Anthicidae. In four groups, the Formicidae, Heteroptera, Galerucinae and Corylophidae, none of the variables was significant.
7. These data may support the view that for many insect groups there is less host-specificity in the tropics than in temperate regions.     

Host Plant Specialization and Species Turnover of Caterpillars Among Hosts in the Brazilian Cerrado

Decrease in the species composition similarity of herbivore assemblages with increasing phylogenetic distance between host plants is a widespread pattern. Here we used data for caterpillars in the Brazilian Cerrado to investigate how the similarity in caterpillar species composition decreases as the taxonomic level and genetic distance (GD) of their host plants increases. In addition, we elucidate the plant taxonomic level that provides the greatest contribution to turnover in the caterpillar species composition among host taxa. Adult Lepidoptera were reared from caterpillars collected from 52 plants over 13 yr in the same area, with each host plant sampled for 1 yr. Most species were specialists, with 66 percent of genus specialists among the nonsingleton species. The similarity in caterpillar species composition across plant taxa decreased from host species to genera, and from host genera to orders. Above this level, the similarity was consistently low. The GD between plants explained 82 percent of the variation in the similarity of caterpillar species composition. The contribution of caterpillar species turnover among host orders from the same superorder and among host superorders from the same subclass explained 70 percent of the caterpillar species richness as a whole. Our results lend support to the view that most tropical caterpillars are host specialists. Our findings further indicate that the number of orders and superorders of plants provide the greatest contribution to the total caterpillar richness compared with all of the other host taxonomic levels combined. Abstract in Portuguese is available at http://www.blackwell‐synergy.com/loi/btp .     

Chemistry of Cirsium and Carduus: a role in ecological risk assessment for biological control of weeds?

Prediction of host plant range and ecological impact of exotic phytophagous insects, such as insects for classical biological control of weeds, represents a major challenge. Recently, the flowerhead weevil (Rhinocyllus conicus Fröl.), introduced from Europe into North America to control exotic thistles (Carduus spp.), has become invasive. It feeds heavily on some, but not all species of native North American thistles (Cirsium spp.). We hypothesized that such non-target use among native plants could be better predicted by knowledge of characteristic chemical profiles of secondary compounds to supplement the results of host specificity testing. To evaluate this hypothesis, we reviewed the literature on the chemistry of Cirsium and Carduus thistles. We asked what compounds are known to be present, what is known about their biological activity, and whether such information on chemical profiles would have better predicted realized host range and ecological effects of R. conicus in North America. We found an extensive, but incomplete literature on the chemistry of true thistles. Two main patterns emerged. First, consistent chemical similarities and interesting differences occur among species of thistles. Second, variation occurs in biologically active groups of characteristic compounds, specifically flavonoids, sterols, alkaloids and phenolic acids, that are known to influence host plant acceptance, selection, and feeding by phytophagous insects. Surprisingly, sesquiterpene lactones, which are characterisitic in closely related Asteraceae, have not been extensively reported for Cirsium or Carduus. The minimal evidence on sesquiterpene lactones may reflect extraction methods vs. true absence. In summary, our review suggests further research on thistle chemistry in insect feeding is warranted. Also, since the exotic Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) is an invasive thistle of current concern in North America, such research on mechanisms underlying host range expansion by exotic insects would be useful.     

The hypothesis of sympatric speciation as the dominant generator of endemism in a global hotspot of biodiversity

Allopatric or sympatric speciation influence the degree to which closely related species coexist in different manners, altering the patterns of phylogenetic structure and turnover among and between communities. The objective of this study was to examine whether phylogenetic community structure and turnover in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest permit conclusions about the dominant process for the formation of extant angiosperm richness of tree species. Therefore, we analyzed phylogenetic community structure (MPD, MNTD) as well as taxonomic (Jaccard similarity) and phylogenetic turnover (betaMPD, betaMNTD) among and between 49 tree communities distributed among three different habitat types. Mean annual precipitation and mean annual temperature in each survey area were estimated. Phylogenetic community structure does not differ between habitat types, although MPD reduces with mean annual temperature. Jaccard similarity decreases and betaMNTD increases with spatial distance and environmental differences between study sites. Spatial distance explains the largest portions of variance in the data, indicating dispersal limitation and the spatial aggregation of recently formed taxa, as betaMNTD is related to more recent evolutionary events. betaMPD, that is related to deep evolutionary splits, shows no spatial or environmental pattern, indicating that older clades are equally distributed across the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. While similarity pattern indicates dispersal limitations, the spatial turnover of betaMNTD is consistent with a high degree of sympatric speciation generating extant diversity and endemism in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. More comprehensive approaches are necessary to reduce spatial sampling bias, uncertainties regarding angiosperm diversification patterns and confirm sympatric speciation as the dominant generator for the formation of extant species diversity in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.     

Nocturnal resource defence in aphid‐tending ants of northern Patagonia

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The decay of similarity with geographical distance in parasite communities of vertebrate hosts

Aim The rate at which similarity in species composition decays with increasing distance was investigated among communities of parasitic helminths in different populations of the same host species. Rates of distance decay in similarity of parasite communities were compared between populations of fish and mammal hosts, which differ with respect to their vagility and potential to disperse parasite species over large distances. Location Data on helminth communities were compiled for several populations of three mammalian host species (Ondatra zibethicus, Procyon lotor and Canis latrans) and three fish host species (Perca flavescens, Catostomus commersoni and Esox lucius) from continental North America. Methods Distances between localities and similarity in the composition of helminth communities, the latter computed using the Jaccard index, were calculated for all possible pairs of host populations within each host species. Similarity values were then regressed against distance to see if they decayed at exponential rates, as reported for plant communities; the significance of the regressions was assessed using randomization tests. Results The number of hosts examined per population did not correlate with the number of helminth species found per population, and thus sampling effort is unlikely to have confounded the results. In four (two mammals and two fish) of the six host species, similarity in helminth communities decayed exponentially with distance. When the log of similarity is plotted against untransformed distance, the slopes obtained for the two fish species are lower than those obtained for the two mammalian host species. Main conclusions Similarity in the composition of parasite communities appears to decay exponentially with increasing distance in some host species, but not in all host species. The rate of decay is not necessarily associated with the vagility of the host. Although distance decay of similarity is generally occurring, it seems that other ecological processes, related either to the host or its habitat, can obscure it.     

Taxonomic homogenization and differentiation across Southern Ocean Islands differ among insects and vascular plants

Aim To investigate taxonomic homogenization and/or differentiation of insect and vascular plant assemblages across the Southern Ocean Islands (SOI), and how they differ with changing spatial extent and taxonomic resolution. Location Twenty‐two islands located across the Southern Ocean, further subdivided into five island biogeographical provinces. These islands are used because comprehensive data on both indigenous and non‐indigenous insect and plant species are available. Methods An existing database was updated, using newly published species records, identifying the indigenous and non‐indigenous insect and vascular plant species recorded for each island. Homogenization and differentiation were measured using Jaccard’s index (JI) of similarity for assemblages across all islands on a pairwise basis, and for island pairs within each of the biogeographical provinces. The effects of taxonomic resolution (species, genus, family) and distance on levels of homogenization or differentiation were examined. To explore further the patterns of similarity among islands for each of the taxa and groupings (indigenous and non‐indigenous), islands were clustered based on JI similarity matrices and using group averaging. Results Across the SOI, insect assemblages have become homogenized (0.7% increase in similarity at species level) while plant assemblages have become differentiated at genus and species levels. Homogenization was recorded only when pairwise distances among islands exceeded 3000 km for insect assemblages, but distances had to exceed 10,000 km for plant assemblages. Widely distributed non‐indigenous plant species tend to have wider distributions across the SOI than do their insect counterparts, and this is also true of the indigenous species. Main conclusions Insect assemblages across the SOI have become homogenized as a consequence of the establishment of non‐indigenous species, while plant assemblages have become more differentiated. The likely reason is that indigenous plant assemblages are more similar across the SOI than are insect assemblages, which show greater regionalization. Thus, although a suite of widespread, typically European, weedy, non‐indigenous plant species has established on many islands, the outcome has largely been differentiation. Because further introductions of insects and vascular plants are probable as climates warm across the region, the patterns documented here are likely to change through time.     

Gall‐forming insects in a lowland tropical rainforest: low species diversity in an extremely specialised guild

1. Gall‐forming insects are a guild of endophages that exhibit a high level of fidelity to their host plants, however, their level of host specificity is seldom explicitly tested. 2. Gall‐forming insect taxa from 32 species of woody tropical plants with resolved phylogenetic relationships were collected and reared, representing 15 families from all the major clades of angiosperms, at three lowland rainforest locations in Madang, Papua New Guinea (PNG). 3. More than 8800 galled plant parts were collected from 78 gall morphospecies at an average of 2.4 per host plant. Total species richness at the sampling sites was estimated to be 83–89. All but one morphospecies were monophagous resulting in an effective specialisation of 0.98. 4. Specific leaf weight, foliar nitrogen, the presence of latex, and the successional preference of plant species all gave a phylogenetic signal, but only plant successional preference influenced the species richness of galls on analysis of phylogenetically independent contrasts. Gall species were distributed randomly among host plant species and showed no preference for any particular plant lineage. Furthermore, most gall‐forming taxa were evenly dispersed across the host plant phylogeny. 5. In the tropical rainforests of New Guinea, gall‐forming insects are ubiquitous but occur in species‐poor assemblages. Local species richness is closely tied to the diversity of angiosperms owing to very high host specificity. 6. Finally, galler species richness data from the literature across habitats and latitudes were compared and suggest that tropical rainforests may be richer in galls than previously acknowledged.     

Host-plant specificity limits the geographic distribution of thistle feeding ladybird beetles

The relationships between two phytophagous ladybird beetle species, Epilachna pustulosa K^ono and E. niponica Lewis (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae), and their main host plants, thistles (Cirsium spp., Asteraceae) were investigated in Oshima Peninsula, southern Hokkaido, northern Japan. Epilachna pustulosa was found feeding on Cirsium kamtschaticum in the northernmost part of the peninsula, whereas E. niponica was confined to the Ohno Plain and adjacent areas in the southernmost part, and occurred mainly on C. alpicola. No thistle feeding epilachnines were found in the middle part of the peninsula despite the abundance of another thistle species, C. grayanum. Both beetle species showed lower adult preference and reduced growth performance on C. grayanum compared to their respective host plants under laboratory conditions. We concluded that the distribution of thistle feeding epilachnines in Oshima Peninsula was principally determined by the availability of appropriate host plants.     

Does host‐plant diversity explain species richness in insects? A test using Coccidae (Hemiptera)

1. The megadiverse herbivores and their host plants are a major component of biodiversity, and their interactions have been hypothesised to drive the diversification of both. 2. If plant diversity influences the diversity of insects, there is an expectation that insect species richness will be strongly correlated with host‐plant species richness. This should be observable at two levels (i) more diverse host‐plant groups should harbour more species of insects, and (ii) the species richness of a group of insects should correlate with the richness of the host groups it uses. However, such a correlation is also consistent with a hypothesis of random host use, in which insects encounter and use hosts in proportion to the diversity of host plants. Neither of these expectations has been widely tested. 3. These expectations were tested using data from a species‐rich group of insects – the Coccidae (Hemiptera). 4. Significant positive correlations were found between the species richness of coccid clades (genera) and the species richness of the host‐plant family or families upon which the clades occur. On a global scale, more closely related plant families have more similar communities of coccid genera but the correlation is weak. 5. Random host use could not be rejected for many coccids but randomisation tests and similarity of coccid communities on closely related plant families show that there is non‐random host use in some taxa. Overall, our results support the idea that plant diversity is a driver of species richness of herbivorous insects, probably via escape‐and‐radiate or oscillation‐type processes.